Adventures, Culinary and Otherwise of a New Life In a Small Town

An Extraordinary Morning…

Today I did something that filled me with joy, with sorrow, with love, with anger…I scrambled 19 dozen eggs, I scrambled 19 dozen eggs at the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program, and it was such a beautiful experience.

I didn’t do much, we made breakfast for lunch, my old muscle memory was on auto pilot sauteing onions on the grill, cracking eggs one handed, ordering a lot of people around (I sort of took over…or the reins were slyly handed over by the amazing Laurel to see if I’d take them, not exactly sure how it happened).

What I discovered in myself today and through working with the other volunteers (most of them were seniors) was that the people we were feeding were not the only ones who were needy and needed sustenance. We were needy too, perhaps not for food but for purpose, for company, for a feeling of usefulness and community and it was fucking beautiful.

If I didn’t have a real job (well I don’t really but soon the heating bills will be rolling in and its not a good idea to be a lady of leisure at the moment), I’d like to do this every day…

I really don’t think I’ve felt as connected in such a long time, I chatted with Rob the retired Director of the Food Bank and Mike one of the clients & a part time dishwasher about Dead shows and our first Dead song and great musical moments.My sous-chef for the day Frank told me all about his life and taught me that if I’m ever lost and I can see a house with a satellite dish they always point south. Fred, a retired Ophthalmologist was charming and lovely…especially when the old gals were less than patient with my plating skills. They don’t allow for much of a learning curve, especially Judy, who was skeptical that I’d get the food ready in time (I did at 11 am on the dot!!)…but in the end I won her over (maybe, she smiled at me on the way out). Lovely Kate who must have been a knockout, patient Carolyn and the other ladies who’s names i don;t remember (so sorry!!!), it was great to spend a few hours with them.

I did not get a chance to interact much with the clients, but they were a varied group, women with babies, seniors, a few people for whom life must have been a very difficult journey, a couple of well put together men, who kept their eyes down. I can’t imagine how hard it is to walk in those doors, I think they must very brave to accept help and to accept it without shame must be incredibly difficult.

I mean yes, ok, there are a lot of people who love hand outs, who are lazy and greedy and don’t want to work…but I don’t think those are the majority, at least I hope those are not the majority, and from what I saw today, at least it isn’t here in Brunswick.

So that was some heavy shit… on a lighter note, the nights are getting cooler here in Maine and last night I made my first beef stew of the year.. it was quite awesome, and we’re still overwhelmed with tomatoes, next year we’ll only plant two cherry tomato plants instead of 5.

One day’s harvest.

Here are some pictures of latest adventures and meals, not many because my phone memory went crazy and I had to erase a bunch of pictures…

This was an amazing Cappuccino from Bohemian Coffee Salvage BBQ in Portland Maine.. is AWESOME! Esp the Mac & Cheese..its rare that I find one that is good enough to talk about, oh and the fatty brisket, and the greens..also the pies, and the ribs..umm I need to go back soon, no sooner than that. We had a date night, we went out for BBQ, we came home lit a fire sat out talk about the life, universe, and everything.Christian made me dinner last week.And this is the car Christian wants, I think a Subaru would be good …but then again this is pretty stylish and I could probably get away with only driving 35 mph!

Sunset the night of the harvest moon…. it was stunning.I could not believe it but the entire summer went by without making Pan con Tomate…well, I remedied that!I had a day all to myself yesterday so I made a pretty breakfast to start the day off right.Oh yeah last week we went to the beach, talk about fulfilling my soul…for the first 11 years of my life I was near the ocean, I can’t explain how perfect it feels to be back.

Making perogies for dinner tonight—will post a recipe it they come out well.